Various types of sheet product dispensers are known in the art, including mechanical and automated dispensers configured to allow a user to obtain a length of sheet product from a roll of sheet product disposed within the dispenser. Sheet product dispensers generally are configured to dispense a particular type of sheet product, such as bath tissue, facial tissue, wipes, napkins, paper towels, foils, wraps, or the like. Additionally, sheet product dispensers often are configured for use in a certain environment, such as a home, commercial, industrial, or medical environment, taking into account the operating conditions, expected user traffic, and distinct performance requirements. For example, in some medical or clean manufacturing environments, such as the patient rooms of hospitals or other medical, laboratory, or manufacturing facilities, user traffic at the dispenser may be relatively low, but performance requirements of the dispenser may be great, due at least in part to an increased need for hygienic operation as well as efficiency demands of personnel who wash their hands frequently.
According to certain configurations, sheet product dispensers may be automated devices configured to rotatably support the roll within the dispenser for dispensing sheet product therefrom. During operation of such dispensers, a dispensing mechanism such as a feed roller assembly inside a housing may advance a length of sheet product through a chute and out of the dispenser through a dispenser opening for a user to grasp and separate from the roll, as may be facilitated by a tear bar disposed in the dispenser housing or a predefined area of weakness, such as a line of perforations, defined in the sheet product. In this manner, during use of the dispenser, the user touches only the sheet product that is removed, while the roll remains protected within the dispenser.
Due to the flexibility of many sheet products, however, sheet product dispensed by a feed roller assembly inside a dispenser housing may buckle, bunch, and jam inside the dispenser and accumulate in the chute of the dispenser if a leading edge or any portion of the sheet product experiences sufficient resistance downstream of the feed roller assembly. Resistance may be caused by static charge, directional changes to the paper path, obstructions such as a tear bar, or other factors. If the resistance is more than the strength of the sheet product, the sheet product may buckle, and if it does, movement of the leading edge may stop, while the feed roller assembly continues to advance a trailing edge of a sheet product, thus accumulating, or bunching, the sheet product between the leading edge and the feed roller assembly. Bunching continues until the feed roller assembly stops or the leading edge of the paper is removed from the dispenser chute. Bunching can make it difficult for a dispenser user to retrieve sheet product and can also leave an undesirable perception with users. Bunching can also lead to jamming in which the dispenser is no longer able to deliver product to a user until a technician opens the dispenser and removes the jamming to restore functionality.
Thus, improved sheet product dispensers and related methods for dispensing sheet product through a dispenser chute with reduced accumulation of the sheet product in the dispenser chute are desirable.